1984, Dale Gardner retrieves Westar 6 during the 14th flight and 2nd of Discovery of NASA& #39;s  #SpaceShuttle program, STS-51-A.

Two broken satellites (Palapa B2 and Westar 6) were picked up and return back to Earth by the crew https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💥" title="Symbol für eine Kollision" aria-label="Emoji: Symbol für eine Kollision">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🛰️" title="Satellit" aria-label="Emoji: Satellit">

In this image Gardner poses in front of a camera with a "For Sale" sign in his hand, jokingly refering to the broken sats https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😎" title="Lächelndes Gesicht mit Sonnenbrille" aria-label="Emoji: Lächelndes Gesicht mit Sonnenbrille">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🛰️" title="Satellit" aria-label="Emoji: Satellit">

I want to state that while the Shuttle Era may have been a setback on human space exploration, it really layed a key foundation on how to operate in LEO.

It paved the way to the ISS, which will do the same for Lunar bases, and ultimately Mars, the Solar System and beyond https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💫" title="Symbol für Benommenheit" aria-label="Emoji: Symbol für Benommenheit">https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚀" title="Rakete" aria-label="Emoji: Rakete">

It really taught us how to do Space. Traveling to other planets is going to take a long journey to get there and we must be ready to take any action necessary during it.

The Shuttle Era made us grand masters in this.

I look back on the Shuttle Missions with superior admiration https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="💙" title="Blaues Herz" aria-label="Emoji: Blaues Herz">

I like to think that the Shuttle, ISS and Artemis are to the future of human exploration the same as what Pioneer, Gemini, Mercury programs were to Apollo. Or what Falcon 1, 9, Heavy and Dragon will be to #Starship.